Before there was Walmart or Kmart! There was Woolsworth and Murphy these are what were call dime stores. They had a little of everything and an eatery as well. Some where they stopped being able to keep up with the changes in our society and were replaced by first Kmart and then Walmart.
We had die hard Department stores like Wards and Sears and JCPenney. Macy’s replaced Donaldson’s. Then Wards instead of updating their clothing or trying to take the leap from the catalog to the internet. They slowly died! Sears was next, their grandma land clothing never got updated to more stylish trends. They lost a lot of money by putting their shoes out on the floor as the stolen rates went up. They made a lot of bad decisions with their high end brands. They also neglected to take advantage of the internet.
JCPenney and Macy’s are trying to steer they’re course by embracing the internet and making sure that they retain their stores and online orders. They are trying very hard to stay on top of their losses so it doesn’t get out of control. Herberger’s lost it’s battle to stay in control, which was unfortunate. It was a nice high end store. As our economy ebs and flows it is having an impact on the retail market.
Those that are slow to change will die quickly, those that are paying attention will survive. It is a much harder time than the Great Depression. This economy has been almost hard to shake. One of the hardest obstacles will be for stores in malls, where there is low income housing nearby. Poverty is the death of business. The theft rates sky rocket in areas of poverty.
In the next two to three years it will be interesting to see who is left?
Penny J. (MN, USA)
Raven Hawke, Llc